The Resurrection

A few weeks ago I prepared a talk in which I shared my testimony of the reality of the Resurrection and that Christ lives. I wanted to share some of my talk on my blog.

In writing my talk it brought me to reflecting on my personal witness of the Savior and my relationship with him. I hope that the same occurs for those who read this.

Have you ever been taught something and left wondering how can that possibly come to pass. Something that from your own experience or thought process did not seem possible to occur?

President Faust said, "The resurrection of Jesus is one of the greatest messages of all Christianity. It is a divine gift of the Atonement for all mankind. The idea that one who had died can live again was so unprecedented, so foreign to all human experience, that even the Apostles, who had been told it would happen, could hardly believe it."

Women had told the Apostles they had seen the resurrected Lord and yet they did not believe. Peter and John listened to the testimonies of the women and ran to the tomb to see for themselves and found it empty and Peter wondered to himself what was to come to pass.

I have a picture in my living room where you see Mary at the tomb with pain etched in her face. Her hands are grasping at her chest near her heart and there are tears dripping out of her eyes. Behind her you see the Savior, not his face, only his chest down. You see the markings on his hands, about to ask the question, "Why weepest thou?" I imagine Mary is in pain for what she has lost, her dearest friend lost to her, all she had hoped for lost. Grabbing at her chest because it is hard to breathe and because that is where her pain comes from. But just behind her there is one who understands, who bears the marks of her pain. Who has all the compassion in the world for her and who is her source of hope. He asks why weepest thou and in her grief she pleads for what has been lost and then he calls her name and his familiar voice prods her out of her grief and her hope stands before her. I love his picture because it shows her grief, her pain, but her hope and strength are right there with her.

I believe in the miracle of the resurrection and because of that miracle we have hope, hope for miracles in our lives even when the miracle may be hard to believe and we don't see how it is possible.

We can pray for, seek after, have faith in, and hope for those miracles in our lives because of the miracle of the resurrection!

There are others who have witnessed the living Savior. On the American continent he came to the people and spoke with them and taught them and healed them.

He came saying: "Behold I am Jesus Christ, whom the prophets testified shall come into the world. And behold, I am the light and the life of the world; and I have drunk out of that butter cup which the Father hath given me, and have glorified the Father in taking upon me the sins of the world, in the which I have suffered the will of the Father in all things from the beginning."

They thrust their hands into his side and felt the prints of the nails in his hands and feet one by one. He taught them and then when it was time to leave they wished to stay in his presence and he had compassion of them.

He asked, "Have ye any that are sick among you? Bring them hither. Any that are afflicted in any manner? Bring them hither and I will heal them, for I have compassion upon you; my bowels are filled with mercy."

Are there any that are struggling around you? Are there any who are here but have been wounded? The Savior has asked us to bring them to Him so that he may heal them. My heart breaks when I hear of a brother or sister who has had to struggle alone. We are not to judge only to bring others to Christ so that he may heal them and in the process we ourselves come unto Christ and are healed.

Later Christ prays for the people and weeps with them. Can we not also learn from his example and pray for one another in our struggles. Instead of talking about the latest rumor can we not pray for their hearts and add our faith to the good use of the Lord's power for all.

I testify that the Lord can heal, that he can lift our burdens. I am a witness that he lives, that he has risen.

Joseph Smith and Sidney Rigdon declared, "And now, after the many testimonies which have been given of him, this is the testimony, last of all, which we give of him: That he lives! For we saw him, even on the right hand of God; and we heard the voice bearing that he is the Only Begotten of the Father- That by him, and through him, the worlds are and were created, and the inhabitants thereof are begotten sons and daughters unto God."

Jesus Christ did the most difficult thing that anyone has ever been asked to do. He suffered so much that he asked for the cup to be removed from him but he went forward with it and suffered for our sins, for our broken hearts, for our wounds, for our sufferings so that we might be saved. So that we might return to live with our Heavenly Father.

One of the beauties of the Atonement is that though he suffered and went through darkness the morning of the Resurrection came and he overcame and he completed his greatest act of love. The dark moments ended with a miracle.

In our lives we are required to pass through mini gardens of gethsemane's. We pass through dark moments and heart ache and say not my will but thine be done. We will go through moments where we feel all alone. But when it is finished we will have our miracles.

I have a testimony of this. In my life I have felt those moments of being all alone, praying to the Father seeking for his comfort and guidance. In those moments I have learned of the love of God when I have needed him most. My miracles have come. The beauty of these experiences is that they have brought me closer to Christ and I have been taught how to love as Christ loves. I have learned that I am never alone.

President James E Faust said, "At times I have stumbled and been less than I should have been. All of us experience those wrenching, defining, difficult decisions that move us to a higher level of spirituality. They are the Gethsemanes of our lives that bring with them great pain and anguish. Sometimes they are too sacred to be shared publicly. They are the watershed experiences that help purge us of our unrighteous desires for the things of the world. As the scales of worldliness are taken from our eyes, we see more clearly who we are and what our responsibilities are concerning our divine destiny."

I testify that we can rise from our garden's of gethsemane because He is risen! We can rise when we have spiritually fallen because He is risen! We can trust that he can heal us because He is risen!

I know that He lives because he has healed me, because I have witnessed his hand in the lives of my friends and family, because the Prophets have testified of this truth. I know my Savior lives.